The_Shepherd_on_the_Rock

The Shepherd on the Rock

The Shepherd on the Rock

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"The Shepherd on the Rock" (German: Der Hirt auf dem Felsen), D. 965, is a Lied for soprano, clarinet, and piano by Franz Schubert. It was composed in 1828 during the final months of his life.

"The Shepherd on the Rock", Schubert's autograph
Anna Milder-Hauptmann

Lyrics

Of the seven verses, the first four and the last came from the poetry of Wilhelm Müller, while verses five and six were attributed to Helmina von Chézy[1] but were written by Karl August Varnhagen von Ense.[2][3]

Background

The Lied, Schubert's penultimate composition, was written as a belated response to a request from the operatic soprano Anna Milder-Hauptmann, a friend of Schubert. She had requested a show-piece that would allow her to express a wide range of feelings, and he wrote it as thanks for her attempts to stage one of his operas in Berlin.[1] She received a copy of the score from Schubert's brother Ferdinand in September 1829,[4] and the work was published a year and a half after Schubert's death. Milder sang it for the first time at the House of the Blackheads in Riga on 10 February 1830.[5]

Structure

The Lied has three sections, with clarinet and voice equally challenged. The first, in B-flat major, is warm, as the lonely shepherd on the mountaintop listens to echoes rising from below. The second section grows dark as he expresses grief and loneliness; it starts in G minor, then modulates through A-flat major and A minor to G major. The short last section, returning to B-flat major, anticipates the coming of spring and, with it, rebirth.

Complete text

"Der Hirt auf dem Felsen"
Montserrat Alavedra (soprano), William McColl (ca. 1820 clarinet), Joseph Levine (fortepiano)
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More information Wilhelm Müller – "Der Berghirt" (The Mountain Shepherd), Varnhagen – "Nächtlicher Schall" (Nightly Sound) ...

References

  1. [1]
    Schwarm, Betsy (September 9, 2013). "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  2. [2]
    T. G. Waidelich: "Der letzte Hauch im Lied entflieht, im Lied das Herz entweicht! – Varnhagens 'Nächtlicher Schall' als letzter Baustein zum 'Hirt auf dem Felsen'." In: Schubert: Perspektiven 8 (2010), p. 237–243.
  3. [3]
    Varnhagen von Ense, Karl August (1816). Vermischte Gedichte (in German). Frankfurt: Barrentrapp. p. 15. Verses 2 and 1 used by Schubert.
  4. [4]
    Keller, James M. (November 2018). "Notes on the Program" (PDF). nyphil.org. New York Philharmonic. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  5. [5]
    "Anna Milder-Hauptmann and 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen'". In: Schubert 200, Heidelberg 1997, pp. 165–167.[full citation needed]
  6. [6]
    Müller, Wilhelm (1824). Sieben und siebzig Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten. Lieder des Lebens und der Liebe, vol. 2 (in German). Dessau: Ackermann. pp. 111–112.
  7. [7]
    Müller 1824, p. 122, verse 2

Further reading
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